Exodus 24:4

24:4 and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built ¹  an altar at the foot ²  of the mountain and arranged ³  twelve standing stones ⁴  – according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exodus 25:12

25:12 You are to cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other side.

Exodus 28:12

28:12 You are to put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron will bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial. ⁵ 

Exodus 28:21

28:21 The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of ⁶  their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like ⁷  the engravings of a seal.

Exodus 34:4

34:4 So Moses ⁸  cut out two tablets of stone like the first; ⁹  early in the morning he went up ¹⁰  to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

[24:4]  ¹ tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.

[24:4]  ² tn “under.”

[24:4]  ³ tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.

[24:4]  ⁴ tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural – “twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.

[28:12]  ⁵ sn This was to be a perpetual reminder that the priest ministers on behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their names would always be borne by the priests.

[28:21]  ⁹ tn For clarity the words “the number of” have been supplied.

[28:21]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase translated “the engravings of a seal” is an adverbial accusative of manner here.

[34:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified here and the name “Moses,” which occurs later in this verse, has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”), both for stylistic reasons.

[34:4]  ¹⁴ sn Deuteronomy says that Moses was also to make an ark of acacia wood before the tablets, apparently to put the tablets in until the sanctuary was built. But this ark may not have been the ark built later; or, it might be the wood box, but Bezalel still had to do all the golden work with it.

[34:4]  ¹⁵ tn The line reads “and Moses got up early in the morning and went up.” These verbs likely form a verbal hendiadys, the first one with its prepositional phrase serving in an adverbial sense.